The Bible tells us that when God sends a pandemic we
should humble ourselves:
2 Chronicles 7:13-4 If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command
the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence [Hebrew: דֶּבֶר deber, a word ancient Hebrews would have used for
what we call a pandemic] on my people, and my people, who bear my name, humble
themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I
will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Part of humbling ourselves involves acknowledging our
complete and utter dependence on God for all things. Certainly, humbling ourselves
involves giving God glory for any good He accomplishes through us and others.
People are only able to do good because of God’s grace and provision.
Sadly, over Easter Weekend (of all times!), the governor
of New York did just the opposite of humbling himself. He did the opposite of
giving God glory.
The governor made very similar comments twice over Easter
weekend, each time denying that God deserved credit for the spread of the virus.
Let’s set aside the fact that the virus has not actually stopped spreading. In
the context of his discussion, what the governor meant is that data shows that
the rate of spread has plateaued in New York. Now, I want to state that it was
not wrong for Cuomo to point out the efforts of New Yorkers to slow the spread
of the virus and to encourage them to continue to make sacrifices to do this.
It was also not wrong to point out that their choices and actions will very
likely make a difference in what happens in the coming days and weeks with
regard to the pandemic. What was wrong was to deny that God ultimately deserves
the thanks and glory for anything good that happens. If you want to listen to
his comments in context, you may listen to the clip below. This clip has a
slightly different version of the comment quoted above given on the same
weekend:
So, what should the governor had said? If he wanted to encourage
New Yorkers to continue to take the actions they have been taking and at the
same time he wanted to humbly give thanks to God, he could have said something
like this:
Replacing his terrible, god-denying sentence with the one
above would have still recognized the importance of the actions of New Yorkers
while at the same time giving God the thanks and glory due to Him. But how
would a governor know to do something like that? God gave instructions for
future Israelite Kings to Moses. While specifically applicable to Israelite
Kings, there is a principle in these instructions for all leaders (in fact, for
all people!). That principle is that we should constantly read, think about,
study, and submit to God’s Word (the Bible!):
If the governor had been reading God’s Word, he might
have been familiar with the example of the Apostle Paul. Paul encouraged
Christians to work, labor, and endure. At the same time, Paul gave thanks and
glory to God. This is because Paul understood that people can only do good
work, labor fruitfully, and persevere in difficult times, with God’s help. I
wish the governor had remembered that. Here is one example of how Paul spoke:
Governor Cuomo is not the first government leader to fail
to give God glory while giving a political speech. King Herod made the same mistake
two millennia ago:
CSB17 Acts 12:21 On an appointed day, dressed in royal
robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them.
22 The assembled
people began to shout, "It's the voice of a god and not of a man!"
23 At once an
angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he
was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God flourished and
multiplied.
I pray that the governor will not be eaten my worms and
die. I’m thankful that God has so often been merciful to me, and I ask for the
same mercy for others. At the same time, I hope that the negative examples of
King Herod and Governor Cuomo will remind us of how important it is to be
humble and give glory to God.
Whether or not Cuomo repents and gives glory to God, I
pray that God will use this pandemic to cause the word of God to flourish and
multiply! Humbling ourselves, praying, and turning from our wicked ways is the
key to see this happen. May God mercifully heal our land. And may He receive
the glory!
Some related resources:
This blog post is based on some of the same material I
included in my last sermon. I have set the link below to start the sermon at
the 32:09 mark where I begin to discuss Cuomo’s statement.
Here is a sermon about God’s protection during this
pandemic:
I have written some blog posts
related to the coronavirus which may interest those who watched this video:
This one, which is of a
technical, scientific nature and will be of interest to those who value the
theory of intelligent design: How Viruses Strengthen the Scientific Case for a Creator
A few more:
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
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